Cloth Diapering Made Easy (Chapter from New Moms, New Families: Priceless Gifts of Wisdom and Practical Advice from Mama Experts for the Fourth Trimester and First Year
Authors: Gloria Ng
Tags: #parenting, #postpartum, #EC, #elimination communication, #cloth diapering, #laundry, #newborn, #diapers, #nonfiction, #family
Praise for
New
Moms, New Families
"I
don’t know if I’ll ever be able to convince a man to read this
book but for women who are about to give birth or have just given
birth, this book is a must read. It’ll save you a lot of pain."
~
Vivek Rajan Vivek, Author of
A Great Sage and A Rascal
Named Doku
"...quite
multicultural and includes...entries dealing with very
non-traditional approaches that were once outside the mainstream. All
in all, an eclectic and often enjoyable read that new mothers or
mothers-to-be may find helpful."
~
Rebecca Hazell
,
Author of
Women
Writers
"There
are a lot of practical tips and easy to implement action plans to
smooth out this emotional time in early motherhood...and the intimate
experiences these women share alongside their advice is inspiring and
touching."
~
C. H. Lowe, Author of
Someplace North of Here
Cloth Diapering Made
Easy
Chapter from
New
Moms, New Families:
Priceless Gifts of Wisdom and Practical Advice
from Mama Experts
for the Fourth Trimester and First Year
Postpartum
Gloria
Ng
Cloth Diapering Made Easy
Copyright ©
2012, 2014 Gloria Ng
First Digital Edition, April 25, 2012
Kindle Edition, January 21, 2014
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Cover design by
Gloria Ng
Cover image
licensed through
Lori
Ann
Image graphically
altered by Gloria Ng
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Table
of Contents
Praise
for
N
ew
Moms, New Families
For all mothers,
fathers, and guardians—
ours is a lifelong job, honor and
commitment.
May we succeed in raising fine, able, and
compassionate successors.
Special thanks to the ARC readers, co-authors, and
supporters of the New Moms, New Families Book Project. Without you,
the book would not exist, nor would this exclusive chapter excerpt!
Last but not least, thank you to my readers—those
whom I have met and those whom I will meet. I hope you enjoy this
book; please blog, post or tweet some reviews to help others find me.
I write for you, for the world we are creating together.
As
a new mom for the third time, it amazes me how much re-remembering I
need to do to get back in the groove of things. So I can imagine how
hard it may be to even get things going the very first time around!
One of the passions I have is a commitment toward
environmental stewardship in my daily life, in the quiet daily
rhythms of life unseen by the masses. One of the ways this shows up
is in my laundry load, namely my use of cloth diapers.
When I talk to a lot of new moms, however, they
find cloth diapering a burden—as if it is something extra to do.
That's why
Cloth Diapering Made Easy
exists. I hope you find
it as easy as I have enjoyed it.
Gloria Ng
Oakland, California
January 21, 2014
A
photograph of a disposable diaper floating in the arctic miles away
from human habitat fueled my daily determination to save at least one
disposable diaper from being used and created. One cloth diaper after
another, days accumulated into years and now our next child is using
the cloth diapers we bought for our firstborn.
Best
of all, cloth diapers “live” long after they fray, thin or
pill—they serve well as rags, kitchen towels, hand towels, burp
cloths, baby wipes, etc. Plus, you can always pass them onto new moms
or resell them.
Staying
entirely on cloth is rare, for the very moms who inspired me to use
cloth eventually resorted to disposable for convenience. I realized
then I needed to share how I made it through the years—thus, my
cloth diapering tips follow.
All-in-Ones or Other
If
you have no idea where to begin, you can start cloth diapering in one
of two ways:
(1)
all-in-ones (diaper covers+cloth diapers)
(2)
diaper covers sold separate from cloth diapers.
An
“all-in-one” means that the diaper cover and the cloth diaper is
all in one piece. Typically, you put an insert into the diaper cover
to soak up the pee and replace the insert when wet. Usually, you also
have the option of “one-size,” which means you can secure the
diaper cover multiple ways as your child grows from newborn to
potty-trained. The only downfall with all-in-ones is that on poopy
days you may run out of them before laundry day, especially if you
are operating on the lowest start-up budget possible.
With
option #2, when you invest in diaper covers separate from cloth
diapers, you then have the flexibility of cleaning the diaper covers
separately from the cloth diapers. So for very poopy days, perhaps
only the cloth diaper got poopy but not the diaper cover. In this
case, you can reuse the diaper cover. However, you encounter a
different problem: which system of diaper covers will you use?
Diaper
covers come in three different fabrics: cotton, wool, and
microfleece. Cotton takes the longest to hang dry, if you are only
scrubbing the part of it that got poo on it. Wool and microfleece are
similar breathable materials that wick away moisture to reduce diaper
rash. The drawback to wool and microfleece is that some kids can have
sensitive skin and may be allergic to these materials. In addition,
wool diaper covers naturally contain the moisture-wicking substance
lanolin and need wool wash, a soap that relanolizes wool.
Diapering on a Budget
Cloth
diapers come in three fabrics: cotton, hemp, and microfleece. Cotton
soaks easily. Hemp, even if same weight as cotton, can soak up more
fluid than cotton. Microfleece loses its absorbency over time.
Before
you choose which system is best for you, ask these questions:
1.
How many children do I plan to have? I knew I wanted two or more.
2.
How often can I do diaper laundry? I do laundry once every 7-9 days.
3.
What is my initial operating budget? I set aside $500 for cloth
diapering.
4.
Are household members and childcare providers committed to using
cloth? In my case, yes.
So
here is how I stayed on cloth diapers—the easy way:
1.
I got 2 big diaper pails at $16 apiece.
2.
I purchased 72 cotton prefolds that were about $1 apiece.
3.
I purchased 10 hemp prefolds that were about $4 apiece.
4.
I got 24 microfleece-hemp inserts that were about $5 apiece.
5.
I got a $125 newborn bundle with 80 biodegradable diapers, 12 newborn
diaper covers for the first month postpartum, and 6 small diaper
covers that fit my child up to 4 months postpartum.
6.
I got 6 medium diaper covers that fit until my child turned 15 months
and 6 large diaper covers that fits until my child becomes 36 pounds
(over 3 years old). These diaper covers are at about $15 apiece.
Altogether,
I invested about $550 in the system I now use and listed above. I
spent much more than that before, investing in and trying different
cloth diapering systems before using the system I choose to use
now—and that's where the $550 comes from. To adjust for inflation,
if you were to employ my same system now, expect to use up to $600
altogether.
Diaper System
I
use cotton prefolds during the day when I am at home with my
children. I want my children to grow up aware that when they pee or
poo, they will feel the wetness in the cotton diapers; the longer
they go without changing out of the wet diapers the more
uncomfortable they will feel and the more likely they will give me
cues to change their diapers as soon as they pee in the future.
Microfleece diapers wick the moisture away and can trick children
into feeling no wetness in their diapers at all.